


Suddenly Illuminating the Night

by wavewright62



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: F/M, Scent Kink, Sexual Content, Worldbuilding: Iceland Reopening its Borders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 06:22:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9223037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavewright62/pseuds/wavewright62
Summary: In her Dear Creator letter, Minutia_R said, "...if you do write me a story that examines the implications of Iceland reopening its borders via a steamy sex scene between Ensi Hotakainen and the author of the trolls, beasts and giants info pages (and please do! I am really interested to see how you’re going to pull that one off) ...."*shakes head ruefully*Be careful what you wish for...  (I hope you like it.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Minutia_R](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minutia_R/gifts).



> I envision this taking place around Year 20-25ish.

The moss was soft beneath her bare feet, and the birch leaves over her head smelled sweet. Ensi breathed in their scent deeply as she stretched. The sky was blue and streaked with light clouds, the stream next to her burbled enticingly over the smooth stones. Best of all, she thought, no bugs! Utterly perfect.

Ensi had been coming to this place since she was a small child. It was smaller then, as she had been, just the trees next to the stream with its mossy banks, with the dark sea all around her. She found it difficult to believe when Veeti told her he went all kinds of places in his sleep, but mostly places in Mikkeli the way it looked before they left on the boat, before the Rash came. He also said he never saw the dark still sea under the faraway stars. She only ever came here. It had expanded along with her knowledge and ability, so now there was a whole forest and the stream had pleasing rock formations along most of its length. 

Ensi had come to accept that this place was hers alone; she never saw anyone else. Well, she did see the spirits of the undead, but she could send them on their way to Tuonela anyway. They didn’t count. Here, she could think, and it was the best place to develop runos undisturbed.

She walked under the trees devising a supplication to Ukko. His was the realm of clouds and sky, and lightning, that sudden violence that illuminated but left just as quickly, making the subsequent darkness all the more profound.

That was when she saw him. He was walking through her forest, looking around in bewilderment. He had tousled sandy hair, freckles, and wore a sheepskin jacket over sky-blue trousers tucked into soft boots. He obviously hadn’t spotted her yet.

Ensi’s shock at seeing him turned quickly to annoyance. Usually she had to go out from her haven to dispatch the lost souls. They were usually in a lot worse condition as well; this one must have asked for a mercy killing as soon as he became infected. How had he gotten into her haven? “You there!,” she shouted, “you’re late for Tuonela! Tell me who you are, and I will send you to your rest.”

An Ensi approached him, his jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. His green eyes and freckles stood out as he blushed deeply and looked away. He was stammering some kind of apology when Ensi reached him. She grabbed him by his shirt front and forced him back against the nearest birch tree, his arms circling wildly to try to keep his balance. She repeated sternly, “Tell me who you are.”

“I-I’m,” he stopped to gulp, his Adam’s apple bobbing, “Jens. My name is Jens.” He was still blushing furiously and his eyes would come reluctantly to meet Ensi’s own and then immediately skitter away. He managed to squeak, “Who are you? Are you, are you, one of the Finnish forest goddesses?”

Finnish forest goddesses? “You’re not Finnish? How came you here?!,” she demanded, not slackening her grip. “If you tell me who you are, I will make your transition to the next world painless.”

Jens’ eyes rolled back, but he still couldn’t bring himself to meet Ensi’s fierce gaze. He cried out, “Oh, Loki, I am led astray again! Where did you lead me now?” Then to Ensi he said, “Please don’t kill me! I-I’m sorry, I don’t know your rituals. I saw this beautiful place in the dreamscape, I swear I didn’t know it was a sacred grove!”

Ensi was confused. “I’m not going to kill you, you’re already dead, do you understand?” Jens turned wide green eyes to stare at her now. “It’s not a sacred grove, but it is my haven. I don’t know how you got past the wards. But it doesn’t matter,” she renewed the ferocity of her grip on Jens, “I can send you to Tuonela all the same, and let the swan sort out if some other gods are meant to have you!”

Jens reached up to enclose Ensi’s hands in his own, to try to get her to release a bit. “I’m not dead. I-I’m immune from the Rash. Please don’t kill me. I’m...I’m a traveler. From Iceland.”

His hands were warm around Ensi’s hands, not like the cold spirits at all. Truth to tell, he was a bit sweaty; his scent was definitely human but unexpectedly pleasant. Puzzling. “Iceland?,” she frowned, “No one gets in or out of Iceland.”

Jens gulped again as best as he could from behind Ensi’s hands. “The government is opening its borders, a little. I’m on a trip to… to see what’s out here.” He gave a supplicating half-smile. “I know the old gods are coming back to protect us again, but I’ve never met a goddess before.” Ensi snorted and backed off a step, wrenching her hands out of Jens’ grasp.

Jens wiped his hands nervously on his pants. “I’m meant to find out more about trolls, and giants, and beasts, and uuhmm…how it is in Finland. I only just got to Pori tonight. It’s,” he paused, locking eyes with Ensi, “really beautiful. More beautiful than I thought possible.”

Ensi raised her eyebrows. Pori? Pori was by the sea, wasn’t it? She remembered Veeti saying something about it, he’d been there. But she couldn’t remember what, and this man was actually not a spirit but a human after all, and …very attractive. She said nothing, but neither could she tear away her gaze from his. Then somewhere outside the rushing in her ears, her voice was saying, “Why did you think I am a goddess?”

He somehow had a lock of her long blonde hair in his fingers and was caressing it, but his eyes hadn’t left hers. “Because it’s so warm here and not raining, and these are such beautiful trees, and you’re so beautiful naked like they are, and so fierce, and …and then I thought you were protecting this place?”

Naked. Ensi gasped. Well, _of course_ she was naked, this was her private haven after all, she had no need for clothes here. But she was suddenly aware of her exposed skin, as though the very air was touching her everywhere at once with warm silken fingers. The effect was electrifying. And this man’s gaze had touched her as well, and found her beautiful. Well, let him look. She stood a little taller, feeling her exposed nipples follow suit.

His scent of his skin, like sun-warmed bark, was wafting over her and enticing her closer. He held his breath as her hand went up to his throat again, but this time the touch was gentle. Ensi broke their locked gaze as she leaned in and breathed his scent before lightly tasting the pale skin in the hollow of his exposed throat. Jens gasped, lost in the spell of the sensation of her tongue on his skin as it traveled upward. As he arched his neck to welcome her touch, his chest brushed lightly against Ensi’s nipples. She was startled at the surprising shock the touch delivered from the base of her spine, and she stepped back. Jens lowered his chin reluctantly and they locked gazes again. He implored softly, “May…may…?” but couldn’t finish the sentence before Ensi closed the gap between them again.

\------

Afterward, Ensi paced around the man, who knelt submissively in front of her. Jens did not dare look at her, so he stared at the leaf litter. Birch leaves, a thick, soft mat of birch leaves over the cushioning moss. Soft and yielding, and smelling of the earth, and of his semen. Some of the birch leaves still clung to her lean limbs as she paced. “I still don’t know how you came here,” Ensi was saying, “is this something all Icelanders can do?” Ensi stopped pacing and considered Jens, naked and still kneeling with birch leaves on his thighs and bits of moss in his hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but then looked up at her imploringly as his body suddenly faded away.

Ensi snorted. Ah well, he must have woken up. Even if he was exactly who he said he was, it was dangerous to have strangers be able to penetrate her…she paused for a moment as an echo of that other penetration shot deliciously through her body…able to penetrate her _haven_ and its wards so easily. She would need to be more guarded, she thought wryly, she might even have to start wearing _clothes_ here.

\------

A few days later, Ensi was called into the scouting office in Mikkeli. As she stepped inside the office, the commander and the interpreter stood up and the commander said cheerily, “Ah, here she is now, my best mage and scout. Ensi Hotakainen, this is Je-“ Ensi interrupted her.

“We’ve met,” Ensi said evenly, locking eyes with the sandy-haired visitor in a sheepskin jacket standing gape-mouthed before her. The commander and interpreter looked from Ensi to Jens and back again, then at each other.

\------

Ensi learned more about the magic of her world and the next. More mages joined her over time as the gods held more sway over the land and its remaining people. She perfected her runo to Ukko, whose sudden presence illuminated the night, leaving the darkness more profound after he’d passed.

Posters from the new Nordic Council in Iceland began to get posted in the dining halls and common rooms. There were posters about Blessed Felines, and Icelandic mages, and the Differences between Trolls, Beasts and Giants. She stared at that last poster many times, chewing thoughtfully, remembering his rapt attention to detail as she pointed out those differences in the corpses found in the forests around Mikkeli. She also fondly remembered his rapt attention to other details.

Then came the day Ensi met another mage while patrolling the forest. He was solid and blond, with calm blue eyes. As they sat together at the campfire, Ensi noticed his scent, like sun-warmed bark. Ukko-Pekka, she dubbed him later, whose sudden presence illuminated the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I got chicken when it came to the actual 'steamy sex scene,' but this world doesn't really need my take on nipple cock thrust gasp throb. Oh yeah, and balls too.


End file.
